Rethinking the 16-Week Semester: Is a Shorter Semester More Equitable? And for Whom?

COVID-19’s impact on student success and mental health forced institutions to reexamine the efficacy of academic structures that had long been considered status quo. For some schools, that included rethinking the 16-week semester.

Roughly 95% of institutions operate on a traditional semester timeline, in which students arrive on campus in mid-to-late August and take four to six classes for 15 or 16 weeks before leaving for winter break. Some schools, however, — particularly community colleges  — have pursued an alternative option, in which students take two to three classes for eight weeks.

Proponents of the eight-week semester praise its flexibility, especially for working students and student parents. That’s because, if a life event abruptly derails a student from completing their semester, fewer courses will be impacted and, thus, fewer credits will be lost. Plus, these students need not wait long for the arrival of a new semester and a fresh start.

“If they need to stop out, there’s a shorter amount of time before they can jump right back in and get right back into the swing of things and keep their momentum going,” said Dr. Laurie Fladd, director of holistic student supports at Achieving the Dream (ATD). She recently helped authored a guidebook for schools transitioning to shorter semesters. 

According to Fladd, the compressed schedule also allows students to maintain the benefits of having full-time status while only having to focus on two courses at a time. That’s especially crucial for working parents such as Courtney Honeycutt, who graduated from Amarillo College.

“I get to spend more time with my daughter and I get to remain a full-time student,” said Honeycutt in an interview with Amarillo College, who explained that the full-time status allows her to keep her financial aid and single-parent housing while being enrolled in just two courses at a time.